Thursday, August 22, 2013

In the fall, Stu is moving from Toronto back to Vancouver to finish up his degree and although I have a major sad about that ("it's only for 4 months!" is my mantra right now) I've been trying to focus on the positives. One cool thing is that I'll be living solo for the first time and thus will have my own room to design/decorate exactly as I see fit!

I've never been a "decorating" person before but as soon as the prospect of my very own space came into view, I became obsessed. I must have pinned 100 different ideas (yes, Pinterest. Don't hate, it's an excellent tool) in the span of a month. I thought I'd organize my thoughts in an inspiration post so I can focus my intentions for my fall space.

Gallery Walls

I'm a big believer in using space from floor to ceiling because I think it makes a room look bigger, and also more lived-in. It's for that reason that I love gallery walls. Is there any better way to display a large collection of art (and I use art loosely, because I definitely don't have an expensive collection. Mine is more like magazine clippings, drawings from friends, etc.) while making your space look cool and eclectic?

All White With Wood Accents

Aren't all-white walls and furniture and plush rugs just so pretty? White opens up a room, makes it feel airy and inviting and it's such an excellent blank canvas just ready to be decorated. I'm most drawn to white rooms that have wood accents like tables, chair legs, stools, benches and the like. They make a white room so cozy.

Stacks

There was a time when this method of decorating/storing magazines and books would be considered totally hoarder-y, but for some reason these days I find it very cute and contemporary. It has that air of not trying too hard while still trying (I mean, you kind of have to try to put stuff in piles, right?) and it's a great way to display old magazines and coffee table books you still want to keep. Love the flower pot on top of the stack, too.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Ever since "breaking veg" two years ago after being an almost life-long vegetarian, I've been a huge fan of white fish. Unlike other meats, which I still don't eat (pescetarian is my new dietary title, I suppose), white fish is light, flaky and mild. I first started eating it in it's junk-foodiest form: fish & chips. I used to joke that yes, I'm a vegetarian but I'll eat fish if it's battered and fried.

From fish & chips I ventured into Mexican territory and a formed a love affair with the perfect little package of goodness known as the fish taco. My favourite fish tacos remain the baja style tacos from Chronic Tacos in Vancouver (they're a chain that started in California) but making my own FT's didn't occur to me until moving to Toronto where Chronic was nowhere to be found.

The following is less of a recipe and more of an outline — I just sort of made it up as I went along, following a the classic dredging technique. I would have liked to make my own pico de gallo but store-bought salsa was on hand and fast and we were HUNGRY. Ditto for the slaw: our new kitchen isn't stocked properly yet so a few shortcuts were taken. Still delicious though, I promise you that.

Panko Fish Tacos - An Outline

For the crispy fish:

White fish (2 small ones or 1 fat one per person should cut it. I used frozen tilapia fillets that I thawed that morning)

Small tortillas (preferably corn but we had to use flour ones because the store was out)

Heat a generous amount of oil in a frying pan on medium-high. Cut the fish into small strips about an inch wide and 4 inches long and pat dry with a paper towel. Lay out three dishes (I used plates for the dry components and a bowl for the egg). The first dish is for the flour, the next dish is for the beaten egg and milk, and the last dish is for the panko — in that order. Just eyeball the amounts and add more as you go if needed.

Season all three components generously with the spices — the key is to add flavour at every point for optimal deliciousness. Start at the flour end of the assembly line and coat a couple pieces of fish at a time. Now move them into the egg mixture and coat them in there. Then drop them into the panko and coat them in there. Now you can transfer the fish into the hot oil pan and cook them on each side until golden brown, which should take about 5 minutes per side. Don't try to do all your fish at once, it'll get out of hand. Just be patient and enjoy the monotony of the assembly line. When you take the fish out of the pan, place the pieces on a plate lined with paper towel to soak up excess oil.

For the coleslaw:

Coleslaw mix or shredded cabbage and carrots

Mayonaise

Lime juice

Mexican spices or seasoning mix (see above)

In a bowl mix about 1/2 cup of mayonaise with the juice of a lime. Season with mexican spices and taste to make sure it's not too sour. If it is, add more mayo. Then mix the dressing with the slaw.

We assembled our tacos on oven-warmed tortillas (wrap them in foil so they don't crisp up) and topped them with salsa. It was awesome. Would have been even better with some beer, just fyi.

Saturday, June 8, 2013

So, I realize that the cat eye look has been Played Out For Life and is somewhat of a beauty writing cliche by now. But bear with me when I say it's played out for a reason: it's so damn flattering on absolutely anybody and everybody (um, especially Brigitte Bardot but she's not human so we don't have to compare ourselves to her.)

I had abandoned the winged-out look for a while because I was having a lot of trouble with the liquid liner I owned and was too lazy to get a new one. I can never seem to get both eyes going at the exact same angle and it's frustrating, damn it. That is, it was frustrating until I finally bit the bullet (another cliche, woops) and handed over the $26 for the ever-popular and ever-praised Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner from Sephora:

damn girl

It's like the beautiful pointed tip markers we used to use in fashion illustration class to draw details on our designs and I'm sooooo into it. The first time I tried it I did not get the exact same angle of wing (because that's me, not so good at drawing despite the efforts of my amazing illustration teacher) but unlike with my previous cheap liquid liner, I have confidence that I will get there. And that's where the biggest difference lies. Meow.